When our culture finally adjusts to a settling point for post-pandemic normalcy, it may have an effect on the movie business.
Over the last few years, you've been seeing talk about how the "at home" viewing experience is starting to compare more and more favorably to the theater experience. Studios adjust to that by releasing movies that rely on heavily on effects and large scale action, aspects which are best experienced in the theater. Ticket sales have remained strong.
However, the theater culture may be in for a huge change. Based on China's experience of reopening and then reclosing theaters, It could be a 12-18 months until theaters are operating again in the US. In the intervening period, studios have some hard choices. Amazon is already offering a system to stream new releases for $20. It will be very interesting to see if the studio eventually cracks and lets Wonder Women 1984 get released on that platform.
Once the "new releases at home" infrastructure is normalized, the public will have tasted the forbidden fruit. If the extended downtime deals heavy damage to both the industry as well as the pockets of potential moviegoers, we may see a world in which charging $15 to fill a theater doesn't seem appealing. Plus, gathering a crowd in a room like that could be a violation of the new social norms.
This could cause a shift towards the production of more movies that are less focused on the Baysplosions and more into stuff that translates well even off the big screen (something narrative driven, such as The Pianist)
This post was edited by Kayeto on Mar 29 2020 06:01am